Howling at the Moon
by DuffJessica
Summary: After her 16th birthday Buffy discovers that she's not just a normal slayer. Buffy must learn what it means to be a mutant, and somehow manage to defeat the master, while trying not to flunk sophomore year.
1. Beginnings

Note: This was a random inspiration. I know a lot of people want me to update my other stories but I needed to get this out of my head. This is very specifically going to be set in the movie universe to keep from having to step on canon much. Please read and review.

Howling at the Moon

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Cobblestones passed under foot as the slight figure of a woman beat her feet frantically down the sidewalk. Her thin soled shoes rubbed and slipped on the smooth stone. Shadows cast odd angles on the sides of the buildings around her as a group of unknown men pursued her. Details were hazy and the girl couldn't know for sure why they were following her. The girl herself was small and thin in a way that almost looked unnatural. The old world architecture that surrounded her was familiar even if she was sure she had ever been here before.

The stones beneath her feet were uneven and before long her foot caught an edge and she lost her balance. Hard ground hit knees and then back and pain flashed through her. Within moments the shadows were on her and pain erupted from her hands.

Jolting upright from her bed Buffy Summers panted hard trying to catch her breath. Her body was covered in a thick layer of sweat. This wasn't the first time she had that same dream. Crawling out of bed she stumbled toward the door to her room. It wasn't unusual for her to dream of past slayers. The frequency of this dream was getting annoying however. Three times this week and she still couldn't tell who was chasing her.

Once she made it across the hallway to the bathroom she wrenched open the taps in the sink. Cupping her hands under the faucet she splashed water onto her face before taking a drink. The water was painful on her cracked lips and burned as it traveled down her throat. Grabbing the hand towel she wiped her lips leaving dead skin on the cloth as she tossed it in the hamper.

The walk back to her bed she was slightly more alert and saw the display of 5:00AM in green digital letters flash menacingly at her as she flopped face first onto her pillow. Allowing herself to lay in bed for a few more minutes she could feel an ache between her knuckles. The pain in her dream must have been so intense that she was still feeling the pain even now. That sometimes happened when the slayer had died violently, usually at the hands of a vampire.

When her clock read 5:16 the sounds of her mother's feet came padding down the hallway. School started in less than two hours but Buffy had no desire to get out of bed.

Reluctantly she dragged her body out of bed once more. By the time she opened her bedroom door Joyce was poised on the other side ready to knock. "Hey mom," she mumbled rubbing her face with one hand. The greeting sounded less like words and more like garbled moans to Joyce but she was used to pre-coffee Buffy.

"Coffee should be ready in a minute." The older blonde said before walking to the stairs.

Buffy simply nodded her head as she walked into the bathroom for the second time. When she looked in the mirror now she could see dark circles under her eyes so pronounced she almost looked like a raccoon. Reaching up to open the medicine cabinet she noticed that the skin between her fingers was red and raw. Giles would need to be told. Surely there was something in those old diaries of his that would explain it away for her.

After finishing her routine Buffy tried ignoring the uncomfortable feeling in her hands and went downstairs where her mother and coffee were waiting. Barely paying her mother any notice she went straight to the waiting ceramic mug and took large gulps of God's nectar. The hot liquid didn't scald her mouth like normal but she quickly forgot as the caffeine began to wake up her senses.

Taking in a deep breath the kitchen smelled oddly more sterile and chemical than it did the day before. Turning toward her mother she got a whiff of her mothers cologne and nearly gagged. "How much perfume did you put on today mom?" She exclaimed quickly pulling up the front of her shirt to cover her nose.

"Really Buffy?" Joyce said in a hurt tone. "If you don't like it just tell me." She said disappointed in her daughter antics.

Unsure why her mom was so upset Buffy excused herself and went upstairs with her coffee mug. Lost in thought Buffy put on a tee shirt and a pair of jeans before running down the stairs and out the front door.

The walk to school was usually much darker than it was that morning. Buffy seemed more aware of every source of light. The scents, like her mothers cologne, were more pronounced. She could smell every dog, cat, and squirrel on Rovello Drive. After walking for a while a breeze passed by picking up leaves in its wake. As the red and brown leaves flew around her Buffy could see every detail of each leaf, taking note of the pattern they made as they drifted to and fro.

The walk to Sunnydale High was largely uneventful and Buffy almost allowed herself to forget how odd her morning had been. The campus was mostly empty when she arrived. Other than a few janitors turning on lights the halls were devoid of life.

Turning a corner Buffy smiled as she saw light coming from the library's double doors. Giles was pacing between three different books placed on his counter while Buffy stood just outside the doors watching. He was cute in a Sean Connery kind of way with hints of grey at his temples and a respectable amount of lines on his face. The pads on the elbows of his corduroy jacket and the way he folded his sleeves gave him an adorable euro trash look. Not that she would ever tell him that of course.

Trying to be quiet she pushed open the doors and made her way to her watcher. Opening the door the rich acidic smell of old books wafted over her mixed with an odd earthly smell emanating from her watcher. Her attempt at stealth was dashed when as soon as she stepped into the room Giles looked up at her with excitement. "Buffy!" He exclaimed as a smile slip open his face. "I've been researching this supposed anointed one." He gestured toward his open books. "Other than a few references to the ritual I can't find any meaningful descriptions of the anointed one himself."

"Giles, did you sleep here?" Buffy asked. There was a faint smell of body odor coming from his cloths. "Because I'm pretty sure you wore that shirt yesterday". She loved Giles to death but the man needed some serious looking after.

Giles took off his glasses and began polishing them in an attempt to ignore the blush that rose to his cheeks. "We really do need to find the vessel before its too late Buffy." The tone was meant to be admonishing but he didn't think it worked judging by the look on his slayers face.

Reaching forward Buffy took his glasses from his hand before he rubbed a hole into the lenses. "I get that but we can't do anything with what we have." She stated slipping the glasses back onto his face. "Face it Giles we need new intel, and we aren't going to get it from your books."

"And how precisely do you expect us to get this information?" He asked now a little perturbed at her lack of faith in his books.

"I think we need to focus on getting the intel from the masters cronies. Hopefully they'll give up the goods with enough motivation." She replied with a grin.

"How are your going to motivate these loathsome creatures to part with their knowledge?" Giles asked not sure if he wanted the answer. The grin he received was proof enough that her answer was going to give him ulcers.

"Easy" she replied. "I'm going to introduce them to mister pointy."

Later that day Buffy walks into the Bronze looking for her friends. The crowd is running about screeching at each other and stomping on the ground. She sees a number of girls standing up on couches pointing down at the floor. Confused Buffy walks further into the club until she hears a crunch under her right foot. Lifting up her heeled shoe she see the squashed carcass of a cockroach.

"Eww" she says in disgust trying in vain rub the bug guts off of her shoe on the floor. Seeing her friends she walks up to their table. As she passes she notices there are guys carrying cups with bugs in them over to the bar. "What on earth is going on?" She asks when she reaches the table.

Xander shrugs his shoulders and grins in a way that painfully reminds Buffy of the hyena incident. She knew it was an uncomfortable issue for her friend but Buffy had seen that look on his face a lot lately. Willow is the one who responds. "It's the annual fumigation party. It's a tradition, for every roach you kill you get a free drink." The look on her face is so unaffected and normal that it takes Buffy aback.

"That's yucky." The slayer responds taking a seat next to her read haired friend.

"I think it's kind of fun" she says. "Plus it helps to make up for the club being closed for a few days while they nuke the bugs."

Buffy just gives her a look and get gets up to claim her free drink. Walking back to the table with a soda she notices Xander missing. "Where's Xander?" She asks Willow. Her friend just points to the dance floor where the tall brunette boy is making a fool of himself. "Well at least he's trying" she says with a frown.

Willow notices the forlorn look on her friend's face. "Is it a guy?" She asks guessing why her friend looks so lost.

Buffy shakes her head "For it to be a guy there would need to be a guy." Taking a sip of her drink she looks back out at the dance floor. "Does that make sense?"

Willow smiles "you lack a guy."

"Which is fine, mostly." Buffy give her friend a sideways glance. "I don't know..."

"What about Angel?" Willow wonders. "You like Angel don't you?"

Buffy isn't sure how to respond to that. "Maybe, I don't know. It's like whenever he's in the room the lights get a little dimmer." She sighs and takes another drink. "Have you ever felt like that?"

The red head gets hyper all of a sudden and looks right into Buffy's eyes and says "Yes!" then after a moment looks out at Xander on the dance floor. As Willow turns her head Buffy detects a sweet and musky odor coming from her friends skin and she has to fight the urge to move in and sniff her neck. Looking at her Xander shaped friend Willow tries to seem just as excited about looking at him but she knows she's only fooling herself.

Buffy watches Xander back away from a jock and his girlfriend accidentally bumping into Cordelia. The blonde slayer is a little thrown by Willow's reaction, not to mention the sudden shift in her scent, and decides to beat a retreat. "I'm gonna go see if I can stake some vamps before heading home." Nodding her head in the direction of the dance floor she says "Make sure he gets home safe." Willow nods affirmatively as Buffy walks toward the back entrance of the club.

Once outside Buffy pops up the collar of her jacket to hold back the cold January wind. Buffy shakes her a head trying to figure out why she liked Willow's smell. She's only half way through the alley when she sees Angel step out of the shadows ahead of her. "Hey, this is a change." She says with a grin. "You didn't come up behind me this time." She puts her right index finger up into the air. "That's a big point off the stalker scale. Keep this up and people might think you were a normal person." Her snark had a bit of a bite to it but Buffy was more than a little tired of his mysterious brooding act.

Angel has the decency to look abashed. "I just wanted to check up on you" he said.

Buffy laughs throwing her head back a little. "You know I am the slayer. I can take care of myself."

Walking closer towards him she gets a distinct whiff of decay and rot from Angel. "Have you been hanging out in a crypt?" She wonders. As she comes up next to him the smell gets so bad that she starts to choke. "Oh my god, you smell like you rolled around in a grave" she manages to say around her coughing fit. Putting her sleeve up to her nose Buffy backs up trying to block the scent.

Angel looks at her in concern. Before he can say anything a figure jumps out of the shadows and tackles Buffy to the ground while two more approach from behind him.

Buffy struggles with the Vampire on top of her. He has all the leverage and she can't get a good grip to throw him off. Over the Vamp's shoulder she can see Angel take a punch square on the jaw. The blow causes his face to jerk in Buffy's direction. What she sees is just about the most horrific sight she could imagine. His face is bumpy just like a vampire with bright yellow eyes and fangs. Her distraction gave the Vamp on top of her just enough time to sink his fangs into her neck.

With a scream Buffy jerks her head back trying to dislodge the fangs from her throat. There is an intense burning sensation in her veins and the Vampire reels back in pain. "What the fuck is wrong with your blood?" He says getting up quickly and backing away from the slayer. He is spitting blood out of his mouth and grabs his stomach like he's about the vomit.

Shakily Buffy sits up on her knees and goes to place a hand over the wound on her neck when the pain returns to her hands. Three of the vampires in the alley turn to look at her as a blood curdling scream tears through her lungs. Blood splashes the ground in front of her as six long bone claws erupt from between her knuckles.

Buffy brought her hands up in front of her face staring at the bone protrusions sticking out of her hands before her whole world goes red.


	2. Nightmare

Howling At The Moon

This is a brand new version of chapter 2. I was very dissatisfied with what I had posted before so here is the real chapter 2. Still has not seen a beta reader and Jack the offer is always open. In this story after doing a lot of research about Wolverines claws I've decided to stick with the movies explanation. There is this great featurette on the DVD for the x-men origins movie that shows exactly how his claws work and I really like how it explains the mechanics. As loath as I am to admit they actually got something about their powers right in those movies so I'm sticking with it. I don't like how his bone claws look in the movie however so I am going with a cleaner looking claw for Buffy. No animal I have ever seen has claws that look as rough and gnarled as the claws in the Wolverine movies. Also a technical note in the official marvel handbook from the 90's there is a note on the claws saying that there is a small piece of calcified bone or cartilage in Wolverine's wrists that grinds against the bottom of his bone claws sharpening them every time he extends and retracts them. This is why I describe Buffy's claws as being edged like a knife.

Chapter 2: Nightmares

There was red everywhere. The deep red of the blood pouring from her neck stained her clothes and the drops of blood dripping from the end of her claws splattered the ground like morbid paint. none of these were as bad as the rage. A deep all-encompassing fury built up within the blonde slayer until her vision turned red. A faint burning sensation could be felt creeping through her veins, but all Buffy could do was look down at her bloody hands and the three bone claws sticking out of each of them. The part of her brain that wasn't horrified was actually impressed with the knife-shaped pieces of bone and how useful they could be in a fight. A scream tore through the background noise of the darkened alley and Buffy Looked up to see Angel in full vamp face getting beaten by two other vamps. The scream had come from Harmony Kendall who was standing at the entrance of the ally. The scream had attracted more vampires and one of them launched themselves at the cheerleader. Seeing the other blonde in danger something dark and primal unlocked in Buffy's brain and she leaped up to her feet and ran at the vampires claws first ripping her new weapons into the flesh of each night stalker. While not the brightest crayon in the box, Harmony knew well enough to take off while the vampires were distracted. Buffy didn't notice her departure. the fight was all she cared about. The feeling of ripping her claws through each new vampire who tried to attack her was intoxicating. Losing herself to the feeling she sliced into each new attacker.

Angel had staked his assailants and rushed to help Buffy. Grabbing a vampire who had snuck up behind the slayer Angel threw him off and turned to Buffy just in time for a clawed hand to stab at his chest impaling his heart on all three bone claws. His eyes registered the look of shock on the blonde's face before his body turned to ash.

There is pain and then there is outright agony. The image of pain on the now dead Angel's face would haunt her forever. On the edge of waking, when the world was still black, for that one second Buffy felt no pain. With the light of the room and the sting of the bright white all the pain in her body returned. Jerking up into a sitting position Buffy began scratching wildly at her arms and neck trying to relieve herself of the burning sensation under her skin. One of her nails caught the edge of an open wound and she cried out clutching her shoulder. The pain was too much, too deep and all encompassing. She just wanted it to stop.

Three concerned faces looked on the hurt slayer with worry etched onto each of their faces. Buffy had been found alone in an alley bleeding profusely from twin punctures in her shoulder. Willow had been the one to find her and the redhead wasn't sure she would ever be able to get the image out of her mind. Giles had been called and between the two of them and Xander they were able to move Buffy to Giles' house. The girl was now laying on a sheet-covered couch in the middle of the living room. None of them was sure exactly what to do. They had cleaned off what blood they could and the bleeding had mostly stopped but the wound still looked fresh and showed no signs of healing. As Buffy's assault on her body began the each reacted only to pause in wait. Neither was sure how to help and as soon as the assault began it stopped. When the slayer's finger nicked and pulled at one of the puncture wounds she cried out in pain and fresh blood seeped out of the hole.

Willow took a step forward and then another before kneeling down in front of the blonde slayer. She was about to take a wet cloth from the bowl of water next to the couch when three long bone protrusions erupted from the back of Buffy's hand. Willow jerked and let out a high pitched "Eep!" before falling back on her rear end.

"Well, that's new." The watcher said taking off his glasses. Many slayers before her had been turned into vampires, but none of them had ever displayed such a strange manifestation. It was cold to sound so analytical and he could see a dark look aimed at him from the boy but at the moment he needed to get his mind off of how much pain his slayer was in. "I don't think I've ever seen a vampire do that."

Willow turned her head to see Giles walk over to a shelf and skim the titles of several books before pulling one down. She was kind of glad that he was going into research mode and took comfort in knowing that the older man was going to find a solution. The look of hurt and pain on the blonde's face was doing something strange to Willow and all she wanted to do was hug her. Instead, she focused on what looked like bone knives sticking out of her friends hand. They were each smooth and rounded on top and came to a point. The underside was edged like a knife and looked slightly serrated. Willow wondered how they could get like that. What would cause bone to be shaped like that naturally? There were three of the long bones coming out of Buffy's right hand each about ten inches long with the one in the center being slightly longer.

A deep groan bubbled up from the small girl's chest and Willow looked eagerly to Buffy's face hoping to see her friend wake up. Slowly the blonde's eyelids opened and hazel eyes looked back at the genius girl in confusion. "What happened?"

Buffy tried shifting into a sitting position, but the claws on her right hand stabbed into Giles's couch halting her movement. Looking over at the offending hand her eyebrows shot up. "What the hell?" She cried jerking back her hand and freeing the claws. Staring down at her hand the burning sensation in her skin was forgotten. "I killed Angel."

It was a statement that left everyone speechless. Willow sat back up on her knees and reached out for her friend. "What did you mean?" The red head couldn't imagine a situation where Buffy would kill a person.

"He is- was a vampire," She said having to correct herself. Angel wasn't anything anymore, at least nothing more than dust. "Something is wrong with me."

"That seems kind of obvious." Xander had been mostly quite up to this point. All eyes turned to him with very different expressions. Buffy felt hurt and wondered if he now thought she was a monster. Willow was confused at the tone in her friend's voice and Giles stared at the boy contemptuously. Xander had the decency to look mollified somewhat though the serious look on his face remained. "I don't think those claws came from the vampire bite."

"Why do you say that?" Giles wondered setting his book down and joining the teenagers by the couch.

"Do you remember that terrorist attack in new york that was all over the news last year?" Xander asked getting up from the chair he had been sitting on. When everyone gave him vague nods that they did, in fact, remember he elaborated. "There were a bunch of pictures of the mutant terrorists in the paper, but one of them showed a guy with claws just like Buffy's," He explained. "Well not just like Buffy's, his were made of metal but he had three claws coming out of his hands."

"So you think Buffy is one of these mutants?" Giles asked while taking out a cloth to clean his glasses. "I'm not sure I have ever heard of a slayer being a mutant before. I'm not even entirely sure it possible to be both a mutant and the slayer. The slayer is a vessel for a dark force. A hunter if you will." The Brit had never really gone into detail about what exactly the slayer is to his charges before. "Much in the way vampires were created by mixing demon blood with a mortal so also did the shadow council take the essence of a hunter and bind it to that of a young girl." Walking over to his bookcase while he explained Giles began picking through his books. "I know we haven't spoken much on the matter but when you dream you relive traumatic moments in the lives of past slayers, yes?" Giles asked and glanced over his shoulder to see his slayer give an affirmative nod before he continued. "In each of these dreams is the slayer a young girl who looks remarkably like yourself?"

"Yeah.." Buffy responded her voice full of uncertainty. Looking down at her clawed hand she wondered. "I always thought I was just experiencing their lives, or deaths rather, through my own eyes." She looked up at her watcher imploringly. "But the last few weeks I've been experiencing something else. Instead of experiencing my- their death I'm seeing these." Bringing her hand up to her face, she stared at the bone protrusions not sure what to think of what they would mean to her calling. "I'm seeing the night they first discovered their claws." Slowly Buffy got up from the couch and wandered over to Giles front window. "It's connected isn't it?"

"I think so yes," Giles said putting his glasses back on and opening a small book. "Every watcher keeps a diary on the life of their slayer. This allows us to chronicle their experiences to better understand them and their struggles." Finding the page he was looking for he brought the book with him over to Buffy holding it up so she could see it. "This is an etching of a slayer named Elizabeth who was called and died in San Francisco in the late sixties."

What Buffy saw should have surprised her but at this point it only confirmed her suspicions. "What does this mean Giles?"

"Elizabeth's watcher compiled a great deal of research on past slayers and determined that the prophecy of the slayer refers to a specific girl in every generation. A girl who looks exactly like you."

"But there have been other slayers who didn't look like me? Haven't their been?" She concluded. it only made since there had to always be a slayer.

"Well yes, actually the slayer who was called when Elizabeth died was an African American woman in new york named Nikki Woods. As far as potential slayers are concerned Nikki was an anomaly." Giles began to babble and forced himself to try and keep to the point. "Ms. Woods was also a very long-lived slayer only dying after a brutal fight with a master vampire named William the bloody." Setting the diary down on a small table by the window Giles placed his hand on Buffy's shoulder in an attempt to give her some sort of comfort. "Elizabeth's watcher John Wyndam-Pryce believed that all the potential slayers in the world were a stop-gap measure to hold back the forces of darkness while the true slayer was being reborn."

"And now here I am," Buffy muttered under her breath while staring out at the night sky. "Slayers all die in combat, but I always die the most horrifically don't I?"

It wasn't really meant as a question. Both Buffy and Giles knew the truth. She had all the memories of her deaths and he had the written accounts of all the watchers who bore witness to the slayers fate.

"Um, weren't we just talking about Buffy being a mutant?" Xander spoke up not sure what had just happened between his friend and her watcher.

"Yes, we were Mr. Harris," Giles said turning to his other two charges. "Contrary to news reports mutants are not new to this world." Taking off his glasses he began to pace. "There are records of ordinary people exhibiting extraordinary abilities for millennia. The mutant phenomena only seems surprising because of the interconnectedness of the world today." Stopping his movement Giles gained a quaint look on his face as if remembering something. "I myself was fond of a very intriguing young girl who had the most fascinating mutation." He trailed off not really finishing his thought and then blushed before changing the subject. "The point is mutants are nothing new and the really ancient ones seem to have been the most powerful."

"Ooo," Willows exclaimed raising her hand and jumping up and down.

"Yes, Ms. Rosenberg?" Giles said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Willow either didn't notice or was too excited to care. "You're saying that what they used to make the slayer was a mutant!" The redhead almost squealed the end of the sentence.

"That is the assumption I am making yes," Giles said pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "There is also the possibility that the slayer essence is unrelated, that the hunter or demon they used to make the first slayer simply likes Buffy as a champion." This had the effect of drawing Buffy's attention back to the room.

"I'm not sure exactly," She said. "But it feels like this is what I am." Punctuating that statement, Buffy brought both of her hands up in front of her face making a fist with both and clenching the muscles in her left forearm causing the other set of claws to tear through her left hand. Buffy winced for just a second until she felt the skin and tissue begin to heal itself. Having forced the claws to unsheath that time the slayer could feel exactly which muscles caused them to move and how they moved through and around the internals of her forearm. Flexing both her arms again only this time trying to move the muscles in reverse all six of the claws retracted back into her hands. All four of the rooms occupants were focused on the six identical incisions between and just above Buffy's knuckles. There were small droplets of blood trailing down from the three fresh cuts but in a matter of moments all six began to slowly close back together until there were only faint traces of dried blood on Buffy's hands.

"This is not something we are going to be able to determine tonight," Giles announced crossing his arms. "We should reconvene in the library tomorrow to discuss it further."

Buffy sighed heavily. "You're right Giles." The looks she was getting from her friends was mixed. Xander still seemed apprehensive though not as closed off as he had when she first came to. Willow, however, was hard to get a bead on. She looked excited but worried at the same time and the way she kept glancing up at Buffy's eyes was doing something funny to the blondes stomach. "I am really not looking forward to the dreams I'm gonna have tonight," She said moving over to the front door.

"Do try to get some rest, Buffy." The watcher cautioned. "Mutant or not you still need a good night's sleep."

"Will do watcher mine," She said turning to smile at the older man. facing her friends, she gestured toward the door. "Want me to walk you guys home?" She offered.

"Thanks!" Willow exclaimed skipping over to the slayer. Turning toward her best male friend Willow was surprised to see apprehension on his face. "Xander?"

"Nah, I'll head home by myself." The young man said trying to make the smirk on his face seem genuine. "Need to think." He said and this time the smile seemed to reach his eyes.

Buffy was more than a little hurt, but she couldn't really blame him. Mutants were a tricky issue these days. When her powers were just mystical it was probably easier for her friend to see her as a superhero. Now he knew that she wasn't even really human. At least not homo sapien. "Its cool," She said shrugging her shoulders half-heartedly. "I'll walk you home Wills."

Reaching up the slayer grabbed her friend's hand in her own and opened the door waving goodbye to her watcher. It wasn't until they were a block away from the house that Willow spoke. "I'm sorry about Xander."

Turning slightly so she could see her friend better Buffy smiled and shifted their held hands so she could lace their fingers together. "It's ok, it's not easy to learn that someone you know is this whole other person." The slayer said squeezing her hand affectionately. "He just needs time."

"I guess so," Willow responded squeezing the slayers hand in return.

After a few minutes had gone by and Willow had shown no signs of pulling away from the slayer Buffy lifted up their conjoined hands. "Want to talk about this?" She asked trying to make sure her tone was even. Grabbing Willows hand had just seemed natural and even after several minutes it just left natural to hold it like she was.

Willow blushed but didn't move to separate their hands. "I don't know." She finally admitted, more to herself than to buffy. "Xander used to be my entire world and I thought we would be more than friends one day but ever since you moved to Sunnydale everything has changed." She looked up at the slayer not expecting to see the tender expression on her face. "earlier at the bronze when you were talking about Angel I couldn't help but think all those things applied to how I felt about you." The redhead paused and took comfort in the fact that Buffy hadn't run away screaming. "It's like you're the sun and gravity keeps pulling me towards you."

Buffy let the silence hang between them as they drew closer to the Rosenberg home. "I can't say I didn't really feel all those things about Angel, but I also felt them about you too." Shaking her head from side to side Buffy tried to clear the cobwebs from her mind and think about this situation clearly. Sure she had been infatuated with Angel but then he had turned out to be a monster. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about dusting him earlier in the night, but his absence made this connection she felt with Willow easier to understand. "No matter what I will always be your friend Willow." Stopping them she turned fully to face the redhead and gave her the warmest smile she could muster. "How about we just take it a day at a time? Neither of us is really sure exactly what this is or what we are."

"Okay," Willow said smiling back at her friend. Looking down at her watch she started to panic. "oh gosh my parent are going to be so pissed." She exclaimed pulling Buffy forward as she began to run home.

Buffy and willow both jogged up the front door of Willow's house. The redhead stopped and clutched her side with her free hand as she panted from over exerting herself. Both girls broke out into laughter at the silliness of the whole situation.

Trying to calm down Willow squeezed Buffy's hand again for what felt like the millionth time in the past twenty minutes. She could hear one of her parents on the other side of the door. "I should probably go inside now before my mom comes out here."

Buffy brought their entwined hands up to her lips and kissed Willow's knuckles in a gesture that was much braver and more forward than she actually felt at that moment. It got the reaction she wanted however as Willow let out a high pitch "Eep!" before releasing her hand and slipping through the door. After staring at the door for a moment Buffy turned and walked home. Sure she had been exposed to lesbianism before, she had been a cheerleader after all and locker rooms were surprisingly intimate spaces, but she had never really put much thought into how she felt about other girls. She supposed that the old Cordelia-like Buffy was more concerned with appearances than finding a real connection with another person.

The walk to Revello drive was spent replaying the kiss, as chaste as it was. Even when she got home and her mom gripped at her for being late she was only half listening. It wasn't until she had changed and gotten in bed that her mind started to remember Angel and the monster she had seen looking back at her in that alley.


	3. Memory

Note: Just as a reminder and disclaimer I do not own any of the characters depicted in this work of fiction. If you haven't already please go back and re-read chapter 2 as I made a pretty heavy revision to the short choppy chapter I first posted. I am drawing pretty heavy on stuff from the comics and even some story lines and mythos that has since been retconned both for Buffy and the X-men. This isn't the longest chapter in the world, but it moves us through some backstory before we get to the action. I plan on setting a schedule for when and how often I post updates in the hope that it will keep me on track. This has not been beta read, but I am now using a professional manuscript application to find and weed out errors that I might have missed. I hope you enjoy and happy Hannukah everyone!

Chapter 3: Memory

Shadows danced along the rough-hewn surface of a cave wall. In the center of the cave, a large fire burned surrounded by a group of crudely dressed people. The group laughed as their alpha and beta fought over the carcass of a steer. The alpha a short dark haired man shoved the other man away from the steer sending the taller blond man to the cave floor. The rest of the pack howled in laughter at the blond man's shame. Growling and baring his sharp canine teeth the taller man got to his feet and charged at his alpha. Curved talon like claws extended from the tips of his fingers as he made to swipe at the shorter man's throat. The large beast of a man was stopped short just out of arms reach of the pack leader. Glancing down He could see a short slip of a girl, the alpha's daughter, standing between him and his target. Three bone claws had extended from her fists and were embedded into each of his thighs.

The pack laughed uproariously at the beta's humiliation. The dark haired alpha also laughed at the taller man's plight. None had ever dared threaten the alpha's place in the pack except the blond man. Raising one of his fists three claws extended out of his own hand with a scraping and tearing sound. In a quick forward motion, the shorter man impaled the blond's chest upon his claws.

The taller man screamed in rage and swung his clawed fingers wildly in a vain attempt to remove the two shorter people's claws from his body. The dark haired alpha ducked out of the way of the flailing limbs and swung his other arm in an arc extending his claws in mid-air. A wet sound echoed through the cave as the bone claws severed the head of the taller man. In an instant, the other members of the pack descended on the fallen beta dragging the limp body out of the cave. The head remained behind and the pack leaders daughter picked it up off the floor. The trophy would be hung outside the cave as a warning to any others who would question the alpha's claim to dominance. The short blond girl looked up at her father and smiled at the look of pride in his eyes.

The dream was new, Buffy had never seen any of these people in a dream before. The look of pride in the man's eyes left an impression on her mind that she couldn't shake. On the walk to school that morning Buffy kept replaying the violent scene over and over. Who were they? Why had they felt so familiar to her? The answer to that seemed rather obvious. If she had really been resurrected again and again throughout history then those primitives were likely her family. Or at least, a family from a past life. The look in the man's eyes, her father's eye's, haunted her. It was a feeling that seemed unique to that particular memory. None of the fathers she had seen in her other dreams had looked at her like that. In fact, the only other men she could remember who had ever shown pride toward her had been Merrick and Giles. Perhaps it was the darkness in her that had kept her apart from her other families. Giles was certainly not a stranger to darkness and Merrick was likely just as familiar with it. Neither had a traditional attitude toward a slayer. She knew this because she could remember all of her other watchers. Most had been men though a few had been women. The female watchers never lasted very long. They always tried to mother her and treat her like she was supposed to be a lady. She had been a real lady multiple times, but darkness and violence set her apart from society. More than one family member had fallen victim to the blood rage that followed the emergence of her mutant powers.

A week had passed now since her powers had manifested. She had grown weary of falling asleep as every time she slept new memories surfaced in her dreams. Most of these dreams were just flashes, short bursts of violent images depicting the horrific brutal nature of her immortality. She could place names to faces and knew the barest details of these people who had once been important to her. The only name she couldn't remember was his, the father who had been proud of her. None of the primitives from that life had names. They hadn't even had a language, only a series of grunts and snorts that conveyed a wide range of meaning. To Buffy however not having a name to attribute to him left an emptiness in her heart. She had taken to thinking of him simply as Father.

Without realizing where she was headed, Buffy found herself outside Sunnydale High school. Her legs had carried her there on autopilot. A few dozen students were milling about the quad busily chatting to each other. One student stood out in the crowd. On a stone bench, an auburn haired girl sat chatting animatedly to the boy sitting next to her. Buffy made a beeline for the other girl barely noticing the students she shouldered passed.

"Hey, Willow," She called once she was within earshot.

The redhead looked up excitedly at her friend. "Buffy!" She shouted.

The look on her friend's face temporarily erased Buffy's dark mood. "What were you and Xander talking about?" She asked glancing over to her only male friend.

"Oh, we were talking about the X-Men!" She said with a wide smile.

Buffy scrunched up her nose. "Who are the X-Men?" She had never heard of them before. Where they a band? She wondered.

Xander spoke up before Willow and explained. "It's the name some people have been giving a group of mutant superheroes," He said obviously just as excited about them as Willow was. "They were supposedly behind stopping the terrorist attack at liberty island and a hostage situation at a train station in New York."

Willow took off her backpack and rooted around in it for a minute before she pulled out a picture printed out on computer paper. "This is the guy from the X-Men who has claws like yours," she said handing the picture to the slayer.

Taking the picture from her friend Buffy looked at it and immediately froze. Her eyes grew wide and she stared at the picture for nearly a minute before Willow grew worried. "Buffy?" The redhead called. When the slayer didn't respond Willow grew, even more, concerned. "Whats wrong Buffy?"

Buffy was at a complete loss. The man captured in the crude security footage of liberty island looked exactly like him! The person in the picture had combed and trimmed hair not wild dirty locks, but there was no mistaking who this man was. The short blond girl was lost in her own thoughts until Willow stood up and put her hand on the slayer's shoulder. The contact shocked Buffy back into reality.

"What has the Buffster so spooked?" Xander wondered jokingly trying to lighten the mood. "Do you know that guy or something?" He asked not really meaning to imply a connection.

Buffy looked over at her best male friend. "Yes, I do," she admitted. "Sort of."

Willow seemed intrigued by this and neither girl noticed the apprehensive look on Xander's face. "How do you know him?" Willow asked. "Are you related? Like is he an uncle of yours or something?" she continued without taking a breath. "Cause you know that would make a lot of sense. They say that mutation passes down from the male side of the family. At least, that's what it said in this article I read from the sixties." She said starting to ramble. "It was written by this professor at Oxford. He's done a bunch of research in the field of genetics and has tried tracing the source and cause of mutation in humans."

Buffy shook her head. "No, I don't know him from this life," She explained looking back at the picture of the man who had haunted her thoughts for days. "I've seen him in a dream."

Willow was noticeably energized by this news and even Xander seemed to be intrigued. "What happened in the dream?" Willow wondered aloud. "Was it bad?" she asked. Buffy's slayer dreams usually turned out to be more morbid than uplifting. "Did anyone die?"

Buffy smiled absently at the question and the image it brought to mind. "Yeah someone did." She admitted, then barked a short laugh. "The look on his face when dad cut off his head was priceless."

Buffy's two friends shared a worried look before returning their attention to their friend who didn't seem particularly bothered by the admission. "Your dad?" Xander questioned not sure he was going to like the answer. What kind of dad went around cutting off people's heads?

Buffy's gleeful look grew somber and she looked back at her friends and saw the look of confusion on both of their faces. "It's a long story," She said looking around at the other students in the quad. "Maybe we should go to the library and we can talk to Giles about it."

The teens both nodded their agreement and followed Buffy through the halls of the school. It only took a few minutes to reach the library and Buffy was happy that no one appeared to be in the library but her watcher. Just to make sure of this though Buffy reached out with her senses to see if she could hear or smell anyone hidden up in the stacks. Satisfied that they were the only four people in the library, Buffy walked over to the research table and sat down on the edge facing her friends and her watcher who had just come around from the check in desk. "So," Buffy started lamely. "You guys want to know about my dream." She wasn't sure exactly what to tell them or how. Based on their reactions outside it didn't seem like they were gonna be excited to hear the gory details.

Giles was at full attention at the news and drew closer to his slayer. "You've been having more dreams?" he asked taking off his glasses.

Buffy shook her head negatively. "Not just more," She said. "It's every time I close my eyes." The slayer elaborated thinking back to all of the things she had seen and memories that were hers but not really hers. "Ever since my emergence I've been seeing things." Lifting up her arms she looked at her hands and instead of seeing slightly tanned flesh her limbs looked blood soaked. "I have seen and been the cause of so much death and violence. It's almost maddening." Tears streamed down her face, but she refused to give in and cry. Her father had raised her to be stronger than that. "Every life I have ever lived is stampeding through my head. Most are just flashes and brief images of people I had loved and lost. Though most lost me and not the other way around. I seem to always die young like most slayers do." Shutting her eyes Buffy tried to erase the images from her mind before looking up at her friends. "The best memories are the earliest ones. The memories from my first life. I still can't remember when I died in that life though I can see lots of memories from times that were happy and sad."

Clenching her fists Buffy extended her claws out of each hand. Unlike the last time they had seen Buffy do this at Giles apartment, there was no blood and Buffy didn't flinch in pain as they tore through her skin. "I've been practicing." She simply stated at the astonished looks on their faces. "You showed me a picture outside of a man like me. One of those x-men." She said looking at Willow's face and seeing a war of emotions in her eyes. "I knew a man that looked exactly like him once. In the oldest set of memories I have, the happiest memories I have, he was my father."

Each of the rooms other occupants looked questioningly at Buffy and then each seemed to process the news in their own way. Xander seemed the most skeptical. "How could he be your father?" he asked aloud.

The blond shrugged her shoulders. "I guess the same way I could come back again and again," She said not really sure she understood everything exactly. Most of her past lives had been dominated by pain and death. There wasn't a whole lot of room left in her life for researching exactly what she was. And the one life where she had been surrounded by other people like her they didn't even know how to speak much less explain to each other who and what they were. "I know that in the dream he was short like me and had bone claws exactly like mine." She went on to explain "He taught me how to hunt and use my claws to defend and feed our pack." Holding her claws up in front of her face Buffy was amazed at how identical they looked in every lifetime. "He was our alpha our leader. He protected us and made sure we had food to eat." She continued hoping that they would understand. "It was our beta who my father killed. He had been almost like a brother to dad for most of my life. But I guess being second best to my father grated on his nerves and one night he just couldn't take it anymore."

"You sound like it was your real life," Xander said starting to feel uncomfortable by they way his friend was speaking.

Looking up at her best male friend in the whole world Buffy couldn't help feeling lost and hurt by the tone in his voice. "It was real," She said sadly. "They were all real, but it was the first." She hesitated before continuing. "That life feels more real than the others because it was the first and it was the happiest."

"Aren't you happy now?" Willow asked in a small voice not sure she wanted the answer to that. The response she received from her friend erased all doubt.

"Of course, I am Willow." Buffy had a stupidly goofy grin on her face as she lowered her claws and look at her best friend. "Nothing in my many lives has been better than knowing you."

She meant every word and hoped beyond hope that the redhead believed her. She may have been getting hung up on the father who loved her, but it was the girl she loved that anchored her to this life. "You're all my family and I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world."

Xander appeared to let go of whatever was holding him back at that proclamation and joined Willow and Giles in hugging the petite slayer. "So what do you want to do about the guy who looks like your old man?" Xander asked with his arm still around her shoulders.

"Don't know." She shrugged. "It's not like mutant superheroes leave calling cards or anything."

Willow started jumping up and down. "Ooh, maybe I can go online and see if I can find a trail or something," she said excitedly. "They couldn't have just vanished."

Buffy gave her friend a thankful look to her friend but caught the nervous look coming from her watcher. "Actually," he said pulling a handkerchief from his jacket pocket. "Some mutants can make themselves disappear."

Buffy instantly look pensive and uncertain but Xander seeing her apprehensive look joked "gee way to be a biz kill G-man like it wasn't already gonna be hard enough."

"Yes well," the British man began to say in a sour voice "we should start researching which I assume is going to require willow to use the computer must to my dismay. I do have some very interesting text that may shed light on the race of people for family hailed from." He explained. "In the meantime you should all go to class and we will meet up later to exchange notes and find what information Willow was able to glean from the net."

Buffy almost walked out of the library without retracting her claws it was only the sound of the tips of the claws on her right hand scratching the surface of the door as she pushed it open that reminded her and allowed her to sheath them back into her forearms before any of the students in the hall noticed.

Willow walked to her advanced physics class with a spring in her step and a silly grin on her face. The night before she and Buffy had watched movies at the Summer's house. The redhead had been thoroughly embarrassed by all the cuddling that had occurred on the couch in Buffy's living room, but she certainly wasn't going to say anything to Buffy. A part of her was worried that her friend may not repeat the display of affection in the future. Things between the two of them had been mostly the same though Buffy was much more touchy feel than before she had confessed her feelings. No matter how things progressed or what happened Willow was sure she could trust Buffy not to take things too far. So long as Buffy didn't revert to a cave woman and hit her over the head with a club and drag her back to her cave. At the though Willow stopped the trek to her class and wondered. "Nah," she said out loud shaking her head trying to dispel the image of Buffy the cave woman. It wasn't like Buffy was a feral animal or anything she mused to herself before entering the physics lab.


	4. Change

AN: There is really no excuse for how long this update took. I Know I have a horrible track record at this point for updating. For those of you still reading this story, all I can say is that I hope you continue to stick with me through this journey.

Howling at the Moon

Chapter 4: Change

What had been an idyllic night was destroyed by the mangled sound of a scream mixed with a howl. The sound came from the second floor of a large Victorian mansion. To the occupants of the house waking up in the middle of the night was nothing new. Most knew well enough not to seek out the source of the sound. Nothing good could come from waking the man who's savage cries cut like a knife through the night.

In a dark corner of a spacious bedroom, the figure of a tall redheaded woman appeared. As she emerged into the room, she looked at the thrashing male body on the room's only bed. He had a pained expression on his face and his back arched as if lightning was striking him. His arms stretched out flat on the bed and three long knife shaped bone claws extended out of each hand.

The claws themselves were a strange sight to the woman every time she saw them. For as long as she had known him he had always had claws. What she found shocking was what the claws themselves were made of. Up until the week prior the claws, like the rest of his bones, had been coated in a metal that everyone, even the great Professor Xavier, had thought was completely indestructible.

She had felt a link to this man ever since she first saw him. The connection wasn't romantic, but it also wasn't entirely platonic either. She was married to another man and while she would never think of cheating on him she also couldn't deny that the man on the bed intrigued her.

Another feral scream wracked through his body and the telepath known as Jean Grey focused her mind back on the task at hand. Making sure not to touch the Wolverine she reached out with her hand and concentrated on his mind. As she made a connection to his subconscious, the green ring of her pupils took on a flame like appearance before she was lost to the darkness.

Sunnydale Cemetery... one of many

The soft sound of rubber hitting stone echoed through the air. Such an innocuous sound would normally be out of place. The clarity which Buffy heard the sound was a sign to the slayer that something was very wrong. Turning to the source of the sound Buffy couldn't help but smile. At the look on the slayer's face, Willow Rosenberg stilled her left foot as it was about to tap against the headstone she was sitting on top of.

"Whats wrong?" The redhead asked shyly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Buffy just chuckled as she walked up to her friend. "It's nothing," she stated placing her hands on the headstone on either side of the red head.

Willow sucked the bottom corner of her lip between her teeth. Whenever Buffy got this close to her, she couldn't help getting nervous. The slayer was so close to her now that she could feel the heat from the blonde's body. Shyly glancing up Willow blushed at the playful look in Buffy's eyes.

"You look cute when you blush," Buffy said with a soft smile. Reaching up Buffy traced a line down the side of Willows' face. At that moment the whole world disappeared. Every feature of Willows' face became intensified. Each freckle and pore on the girl's face becoming etched into the blonde's memory.

Moving slowly toward the red head Buffy's lips were mere millimeters from the other girls when a breeze drifted up shocking Buffy out of her trance. Turning sharply, the slayer began scanning her surroundings. Something was wrong, what she wasn't sure but whatever it was bothered something deep inside her.

"Is there something out there?" Willow wondered out loud. The nerdy teen was a bit thrown off. Whatever evil thing was lurking out there was going to get a serious dose of resolve face. She had been wondering when Buffy was going to kiss her again. She had gotten so close only to have it stolen away frustrated her even more.

Buffy straightened her stance and turned back to the girl on the tombstone. "That's just it..." she said trailing off as she glanced from side to side before focusing back on the redhead. "There isn't anything at all."

Now that she understood what was wrong Willow looked around them. She had thought it was a strange night before she was distracted by a certain blonde. Her feelings for Buffy had blinded her to just how odd that night had been. "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know" Buffy answered honestly. "whatever it is can't be good." taking one last look around trying to open up her senses as much as possible Buffy turned back to her friend. "We should probably tell Giles."

Willow hopped off the tombstone at Buffy's suggestion and was about to start pouting over her missed smoochies when Buffy grabbed her hand. Letting herself smile at the contact she supposed she could get over the missed kiss as long as she didn't get interrupted the next time. She just might flay someone alive if she missed another smooch from the blonde.

Meanwhile… An Abandoned Warehouse

The main loading dock of the warehouse had filled with vampires of every size and age. In the center of the room, a circle had formed around a small blonde female vampire. The blonde was forced to her knees with her hands bound behind her back with heavy chains. Standing over her in the circle were two giant hulking vampires in dark leather trenchcoats. There was blood smeared across her face along with large gashes along one check.

"Where is the master?" One of the large vampires demanded raising one hand threateningly at the smaller vampire.

The blonde just smiled up at her tormentors. None of her features showed the telltale characteristics of a member of her race. Combined with the smeared blood and doe eyes, it gave her an eerie and haunting look.

The vampires on the edge of the circle shuffled back at her appearance. Most had heard of her reputation. That she had survived so long and killed so many spoke of just how dangerous she was despite her size.

"Do you really think I'll tell you where the master is?" She cooed with a doe-like expression on her face.

One of the oversized vampires surrounding her snarled and spat at her. He may have been strong, but he was also young and stupid. "You'll tell us or we'll drain you dry!" He shouted, now only a few inches from her face.

Throwing her head back the vampire let out a loud hysterical laugh. It reverberated throughout the warehouse, and her whole body shook from the force of her laughter.

"Oh god, you have no idea what's going on in this town." She said gasping for breath. She didn't need to breathe, but she still needed to fill her lungs to talk. The effects of her laughter rocked her body so forcefully that she was finding it hard to take in enough air to speak.

Her behavior was starting to concern the vampires in the middle of the circle. Were all vampires as old as her this mentally unstable? The two closest to the blonde shared a look clearly thinking the same thing about her state of mind.

"You should all be very afraid." The Master of Aurelius said looking straight up at the roof of the warehouse. Her head was pointed up, but her eyes were out of focus. "All we can hope for is a quick death…" She trailed off apparently not paying any attention to the vampires around her. "She'll come for us all, and when she does none of you will be safe."

This caused one of her captors to focus back on her face. The blonde master vampire had brought his mind back to the reason they were all there.

"Darla…" He said dragging out her name. "What do you know of her?"

They had captured the ancient vampire to determine how they were going to survive. Over the past month, their numbers had dwindled substantially. Sunnydale had been the home of countless nests and covens. There had been hundreds of vampire in Sunnydale. While not a large number compared to humans, it was still a significant amount for any one town.

A single girl had cut them down one after the other. The night stalkers of Sunnydale looked over their shoulders at every turn. At any moment the demon could emerge from the shadows. Many of those present that night bore scars from the predator's lethal claws.

"The Master can't save you." She said looking straight into his eyes. The haunted look was gone, replaced with certainty. "He is safe in his sanctuary."

Closing her eyes, Darla raised her head back to the sky as if in benediction. "She killed my angel." The blonde said in a soft voice. "We should all pray for repentance. That's the only thing that will save us now."

The white noise of chatter died down, and the whole warehouse paid rapt attention to the master vampire.

"All I want is to be with my angel."

Darla wept as she stayed knelt down on the ground silently praying that she would reunite with her love. She was so lost in her own sorrow the oldest master in the order of Aurelius never noticed the other vampires shuffle out of the warehouse leaving her to grieve alone.


End file.
